Mumm' from Egypt and 'Fishers and Changemakers' from the Philippines are the joint winners of Nestlé’s 2018 Creating Shared Value Prize. The two social entrepreneurs have won CHF 150'000 each for their outstanding work in nutrition and rural development.

Ashoka and C&A Foundation convene the world’s leading apparel industry innovators to address urgent social and environmental issues facing the industry - a community, convened and supported under the ‘Fabric of Change’ Initiative.

Many consumers are unaware that a large chunk of their wardrobe is essentially plastic. More than 60% of the global fiber market is polyester, a carbon-intensive petroleum product which has been refined to the point of doing almost anything we ask of it. It can look like silk, cotton, or soft faux fur, or can be combined with natural materials to improve their performance and lower cost.

This year Nestlé has partnered with Ashoka, the world’s leading network of systems-changing social entrepreneurs. Together, we’re looking for individuals and businesses who are scaling up or generating new business models in the areas of nutrition, water or rural development.

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Back in May this year, we wrote to you directly from Bangalore, India where we not only convened some of our Ashoka Fellows and strategic partners for a ‘Globalizer’ Summit, but we also launched the first of its kind ‘Scaling Impact Fund’ - a €250,000 award dedicated to providing investment to Fellows working to scale their impact for transformative change in the apparel industry

26th May 2017, BANGALORE, India. - Ashoka and C&A Foundation have launched a new €250,000 ‘Scaling Impact Fund’ as part of their joint Fabric of Change initiative supporting social innovation in the apparel industry.

Between 26-28 May 2017, Ashoka, C&A Foundation and partner A.T. Kearney will convene hand-picked social entrepreneurs with industry leaders to co-create and accelerate systems-wide impact across the apparel industry.

A growing chorus of social innovators, designers and leading industry retailers is calling for a drastically different approach to the way our clothes are made and sold. Are we finally closing fashion’s elusive loop?

The hands that make our clothes overwhelmingly belong to women. More and more companies and social entrepreneurs understand that lifting up and empowering these women is necessary to building a more equitable industry.

Collaboration in fashion goes well beyond Kate Moss teaming up with Topshop. Forward-thinking brands co-create by working together with competitors and social entrepreneurs to design radical new projects and processes that lead to win-win-win situations.

Since we launched Fabric of Change in 2015, you have played an important role in the evolution of this initiative as a platform for social entrepreneurs who want to transform the apparel industry. As Ashoka enters the third year of our partnership with C&A Foundation, we again look to you to help fill our pipeline of candidates for Ashoka Fellows in the Fabric of Change cohort.

An estimated 75 million people are now employed by the apparel industry. It’s a number that has almost quadrupled in the last 15 years. With this exponential growth, the not-so-hidden costs of fashion too have increased.

February 7th 2017 Washington DC: Ashoka and C&A Foundation have identified the first cohort of five social entrepreneurs for the Fabric of Change Fellowship to nurture solutions to fashion industry challenges. Launched in 2015, the joint initiative Fabric of Change supports innovators at various stages of their development, unlocking the unique power and potential of social entrepreneurs and their solutions to advance a shared vision: transforming the apparel industry as a force for good.

Saif Rashid believes that, given the right market opportunities, millions of Bangladeshis can lift themselves up financially. With an innovative new model called APON, he is empowering the workers of Bangladesh’s ready-made garment manufacturing industry to increase their disposable income and build better, healthier lives

An Ashoka Fellow since 2003, Nicole Rycroft is a tireless warrior for the world’s forest ecosystems. The native Australian, now based in Vancouver, Canada, leads the environmental NGO Canopy, which works with business partners in the publishing and fashion industries to transform their value chains in a way that protects ancient forests.

Each year, 80 billion pieces of clothing are purchased across the globe, which is 400% more than 10 years ago. Unsurprisingly these sales constitute a major financial market. The fashion brand Christian Dior is one of the biggest companies in the world - last year their sales totalled $41.6 billion, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Tunisia.

Highlights and voices from the 2016 Emerging Innovators Bootcamp in New York City, which brought together 20 passionate social entrepreneurs with experts in business, movement-building, storytelling and social change. Run by Ashoka Changemakers, the Bootcamp is designed to help social purpose leaders make their ventures more effective and sustainable while also supporting their own vision and well-being.

Economies across the globe are increasingly connected and fueled by collaboration. Both for-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs rely on partnerships, networks, and cross-sector collaborations to conduct their business and solve complex social problems. Investigating how business professionals and social entrepreneurs engage in pro bono partnerships can illuminate best practices and recommendations for making these relationships as impactful as possible.

Washington, DC area non-profits and social entrepreneurs are invited to the Mobile Apps for Change event on Friday, January 29, from 9 am to 12 pm, organized by Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup. The event aims to connect nonprofit staff with mobile app developers who have created mobile apps and prototypes that help to create a better world.